Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul in 1952. From childhood to the age of twenty-two, he painted intensively and believed that he would become a painter in the future, and at twenty-three he decided to become a novelist and devoted himself completely to writing. In addition to several books of essays and a book of memoirs, memories and essays about Istanbul, he wrote ten novels, the most famous of which are The Black Book, My Name Is Red, Snow, The Museum of Innocence, Strange Thoughts in My Head and The Woman with Red Hair. He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, and in 2006 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pamuk is one of the most prominent European writers, and his works have been translated into more than sixty languages. Cevdet and Sons is his first novel.